


The Lesser of Two Evils

by christiant



Series: Not Quite A Perfect World [1]
Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-12
Updated: 2014-10-12
Packaged: 2018-02-20 22:10:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2444945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/christiant/pseuds/christiant





	The Lesser of Two Evils

This is not a perfect world. This is the lesser of two evils.

Tyler Colton Armstrong is alive, yes, but she is also more wholly devoted to self-destruction and abuse than she was before. 

With a left arm that's shot to shit and a wall of cool indifference, it becomes obvious that she is no longer the same skinny, funny girl from the newsfeeds.

Even her hair, mahogany brown and lustrous, is not the same when it grows back out of her trademark fade. She sports the same steel-chrome color as Saint Jude, and no one is bold enough to ask her if it's dye or the result of almost dying (not even Jeanie is certain, for all that she has a matching patch at the nape of her neck), and no one will be.

There are no children in her future, no Mason Osborne of Virginia Dax Armstrong, because her body probably won't do that anymore.

Surprisingly she doesn't care that much, not when Jeanie can have babies enough for the both of them.

Tyler leaves the Jaeger program (she must), but she hangs around in J-Tech for as long as the Mark-I's are still in vogue and Jeanie pilots with a rookie before Saint Jude goes down in the waters of the Pacific.

Tendo Choi is married to Alison and the PPDC, and the stars that bloomed in Vanessa's eyes when she used to see Tyler are blazing only for one of the real geeks. But it doesn't matter.

She eats too much candy and drinks too much liquor, smokes too much weed and sleeps too little, but Tyler is as happy as she's ever been.

Jeanie is able to go back to school with all benefits when she leaves the PPDC and Tyler thinks about it but ultimately does not. There is undoubtedly still some part of her that thinks it is still selfish or stupid to get a degree in fashion design, or acting, when the world is ending. 

Jeanie's designs are reminiscent of their days in drivesuits, of Kaiju, of the waters of the Pacific, and of trainees and technicians. They are a sign that she still dwells on it, that that time of their lives still haunts her in her dreams (the logo for “Drift” is proof, _hotpinkoceanbluecoolcucumberlightlavender_ and it encompasses both of them totally) and carries over into the day. But Jeanie can move on better than most. Without the specter of grief and mourning hanging over her she is as brassy and bold as she always was, with a love for life and a will to live that her co-pilot couldn't match.

It is Tyler who is caught up in her own demons. It is she who rips the “Fight Like a Girl” posters, but unlike Jeanie she rips more of them and carries no form of payment to excuse her behavior.

It is she who meets Thomas Colton Cooper, owner of _one_ bookstore and highly upset at the damage to his highest selling merchandise. They do not fall in love.

In lieu of calling the police he makes her sign his remaining posters for little brown girls at the register for _hours_ until Jeanie has the time to come and pick her up. 

It is not love at first sight, not when the first glimpse of your future husband includes her best friend physically tied to a cash register with her head resting on her hand. Don't worry. Tyler convinces her to go out with the goofy bookstore dude with no money and the course of true love runs smooth for once.


End file.
